Tuesday, 13 October 2015

While newly elected Mayor Sharp is the public face of Arkham City, the secret manipulator behind the scenes is the nefarious Dr. Hugo Strange. Sharp presents the walled encampment as Gotham's ultimate solution to crime, but Strange has a secret, darker agenda. He's recruiting his own security force--one that will answer only to him and whose ultimate goal is the death of Batman.

It's not a trailer as such, but Warner has released a new video to promote next year's release of their superhero face-off Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's a fake viral clip that showcases LexCorp's new Operating System LexOS.

Jesse Eisenberg will play the villainous billionaire Lex Luthor in the movie, which also stars Ben Affleck as Batman, and following 2013's Man of Steel, sees Henry Cavill return to the role of Superman.

Speaking to MTV in July, Eisenberg explained why his portrayal of Luthor would differ from the pervious screen versions, in particular Gene Hackman in the 1978 movie Superman.

"There's an emotional core to the character," he said. "It's not a silly villainous character. It is an entirely different thing. Also, the tone of that [Superman] movie is so different. Like, that movie wouldn't be made now.

"The way we expect movies to be now is to have some kind of--I mean, it's probably for the best--there's some kind of psychological accuracy. That the person is coming from a place probably diagnosable in some way."

Monday, 12 October 2015

Legendary actor and box office king shares his experiences with Jared Leto for their upcoming superhero movie, Suicide Squad.

Pet rats and dyed green hair be damned -- this was the most method that Jared Leto went on the set of Suicide Squad.

According to Will Smith, Leto never broke character once the whole time they were filming, leading Smith to believe that he only ever met the Joker while they worked together on Suicide Squad.

Smith told Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 Radio interview about his (apparently out-of-his-mind) costar:

“(Suicide Squad) is insane. I’ve never actually met Jared Leto. We worked together for six months and we’ve never exchanged a word outside of ‘Action!’ and ‘Cut!’ … I literally have not met him yet. So, the first time I see him will be ‘Hey, Jared. What’s up?’ … He was all in on the Joker.”

It's pretty in keeping with Leto's own description of his performance, which he talked about at a 30 Seconds to Mars concert in Dubai (via The National):

I can’t wait for you to see this – they’re going to lock me away in a box after this movie comes out.

After Smith's description of Leto's method acting on set, maybe he should be locked in that box now...

See Smith's full interview (his Suicide Squad deets start at 15:35) with Beats 1 Radio here:

Colton Haynes confirmed the the possibility that Roy Harper/Arsenal could return to "Arrow" season 4 and appear in "Legends of Tomorrow" during the AsiaPop Comic Con event in the Philippines hinting that he is just "one call away".

"Legends Of Tomorrow" will likely have three DC characters joining the show and details on the first crossover episode in "Arrow" TV series.

Executive producer Marc Guggenheim tweeted the cover page of "Arrow" season 4 episode 8 titled "Legends of Yesterday", which will likely pave the way for the pilot episode of "Legends of Tomorrow" next year. Cast member Casper Crump also posted a photo of himself in his Twitter account appearing in an episode of "The Flash" season 2 alongside "Arrow" star Stephen Amell indicating that his character, Vandal Savage will also make an appearance in Central City as well.

Aside from the crossover episodes, three DC characters are rumored to appear in "Legends of Tomorrow" and these are Jonah Hex, Roy Harper/Arsenal and Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost.
Jonah Hex in the DC comics is a disfigured bounty hunter and Civil War veteran during the old west and was recruited by the the Lord of Time to join the Five Warriors of Forever to fight the Justice League and the Justice Society. He eventually rebelled against the Lord of Time becoming a hero in the process and has been involved in many storylines that involved time travel within the comics. Jonah Hex has also encountered Vandal Savage numerous times in the comics and it is rumored that he will likely be abducted from his own time period and will likely meet Rip Hunter the rest of the group in future episodes, Moviepilot reported.

Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost on the other hand, "The Flash" actress Danielle Panabaker stated in an interview that her character might get a cameo appearance in "Legends of Tomorrow" due to his connection with Firestorm. The season premiere of "The Flash" season 2 saw Ronnie Raymond's (Robbie Amell) apparent death in the singularity that almost destroyed Central City with Martin Stein surviving and having Jay Jackson (Franz Drameh) as Ronnie's successor to the Firestorm matrix. Ronnie's death could be the catalyst for Caitlin to have metahuman powers and become her villainous alter-ego, Killer Frost.

"Legends of Tomorrow" is speculated to premiere in January 2016 on the CW Network.

It’s no secret that the Firestorm situation in the DC TV universe is going to change in the coming months. Although Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein started out as the Nuclear Man in The Flash Season 1, Robbie Amell won’t be reprising Ronnie in Legends of Tomorrow, leaving Stein to share the superhero mantle with another cast member in the DC spinoff. After he was mentioned earlier this year, we now have our first look at Legends of Tomorrow’s Jay Jackson, played by Franz Drameh, as the new Firestorm co-host.

In a new trailer for The Flash Season 2 (that has since been pulled), the CW gave a quick behind-the-scenes peek at Drameh as Firestorm next to Grant Gustin as the eponymous Scarlet Speedster. Just like Ronnie, Jay will be the body of Firestorm while Stein is giving him advice in his head. This summer at San Diego Comic-Con, Legends of Tomorrow executive producer Phil Klemmer mentioned that Jay will be the last person that Stein wants to share Firestorm with, and it looks like we’ll see these two together sooner than expected. Because this scene is in a Flash preview, this means that we’ll see Drameh debut as Jay either in one of the early Season 2 episodes or later this year in the Arrow/The Flash crossover alongside other Legends of Tomorrow players like Hawkman and Vandal Savage.

Jay Jackson was announced as one of Legends of Tomorrow’s lead characters last April. At the time, he was described as a former high school athlete whose pro career was killed by an injury, and is now working as an auto mechanic. Because he’s an original character, this left many wondering if he would be taking an established superhero identity, and that theory proved correct. Although The Flash episode “Revenge of the Rogues” introduced Jason Rusch, another Firestorm host from the comics, the DC creative talent opted to use Jay as Stein’s new partner,

It’s still unclear how Jay will meet the S.T.A.R. Labs team, but what’s more curious is how he will become the new Firestorm substitute. When the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator exploded, it bonded Stein and Ronnie together via the Firestorm Matrix, giving them a unique connection. Obviously something is going to happen to Ronnie, so how will this connection be passed on to Jay? Whatever the explanation is, his life is about to head in a wild new direction on The Flash, and if that wasn’t crazy enough, Legends of Tomorrow will throw him into a temporal adventure alongside the show’s other heroes and villains.

Sunday, 11 October 2015

Despite the growing rumors that a "Man of Steel" sequel is on its way, new development suggest that it's probably not going to happen.

In his interview with Canoe, director Zack Snyder addressed the rumors claiming that as far as he is concerned, the only sequel "Man of Steel" is having is the upcoming "Batman V Superman" movie.
"I think in a way 'Batman v Superman' is 'Man of Steel 2,'" he explained. "Justice League is kind of the transcendent, knights-of-the-round-table of the story. It'd be interesting to think about what a standalone Superman movie might be."

While he did not completely dismiss the idea of having a separate "Man of Steel 2" movie, the "300" and "Watchmen" director is reportedly more concerned with the upcoming "Justice League" movies, which he will be directing as well.

"We really have to figure out the why of them," he explained of the entire Justice League cast. "And I think that we have. That's the one thing that's cool to me about 'Batman v Superman,' it's all about the mythology of these two massive icons. And I think that's compelling."

And while Snyder seemed to be contended with "Batman v Superman" being "Man of Steel's" sequel, Superman himself, Henry Cavill says otherwise.

Upon talking to EW Cavill said insisted that "Batman v Superman" is not a "Superman sequel."
"As far as the individual character is concerned, this is not a Superman sequel," he said of "Batman v Superman" being a sequel to "Man of Steel." "It's more of an introduction to Batman, an opening to Justice League, and an expansion of the world that was created in Man of Steel."

Additionally, Henry Cavill is confident that DC and Warner Bros. have future plans for more Superman sequels, which will come in the near future.

"There's plenty of time for individual Superman sequels," Cavill explained. "He's a tough character to tell. People like the darker vigilante. I think it speaks to the human psyche more easily rather than the god-like being that we can't really understand. Once we have a more expansive universe we can delve more into the character of Superman and hopefully tell more stories."

But for now Cavill will return as Clark Kent a.k.a Superman in "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" together with Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne a.k.a Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

It will also feature the appearances of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred J. Pennyworth, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White and Diane Lane as Martha Kent.

The film directed by Zack Snyder will be hitting theaters on March 25, 2016.

Jesse Eisenberg’s casting as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice raised more than a few eyebrows — Eisenberg is typically known for playing nebbish, fidgety characters, but if the trailers for Batman v Superman are any indication, it looks as though Zack Snyder put those qualities to interesting use, giving us a Lex Luthor unlike any we’ve seen before. If you’re curious to know more about Eisenberg’s Luthor, this latest piece of viral marketing sheds some light on what Snyder and Eisenberg are doing with the notorious Superman baddie.

Fortune ran a “profile” of Alexander Joseph Luthor Jr., aka Lex Luthor, describing the LexCorp CEO as a “jeans-wearing genius” and “baby-faced billionaire” who “transformed an aging petrochemical and heavy machinery dinosaur into a tech darling.” The profile immediately calls to mind Mark Zuckerberg, the eccentric genius behind Facebook — whom Eisenberg impressively portrayed in David Fincher’s The Social Network. It’s all making a little more sense now, isn’t it?

The fictional Luthor is interviewed while waiting in line at the company’s vegan food truck, and explains how he inherited the company from his father. The profile describes Luthor as “down-to-Earth” and goes on to note that LexCorp is “the second largest emerging technology corporation in the world next to Wayne Enterprises.” But while Wayne Enterprises has moved away from military contracts, LexCorp is embracing them:

“It’s a necessity,” Luthor insists. “We live in the most dangerous point of time in all of human history. Statistically speaking, it’s a near certainty that another world-changing crisis is hurtling toward us like a speeding bullet. We have to be ready to defend ourselves. No civilization was ever conquered by having a strong military.”

As for the accusations of a few fringe outliers who accuse him of being a “war monger,” Luthor just laughs them off. “I don’t know very many ‘war mongers’ who have a foosball table in the conference room.”

Our new Lex Luthor isn’t terribly different from previous iterations, though he has been modernized a bit to fit into a more contemporary narrative. That said, if you have an allergy to vegan idealists, you probably already dislike the guy.

As the time shortens towards the release date of the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) the rumours seem to be running wild and getting more and more interesting and stranger! The latest one revolves around the appearance of Jared Leto's Joker not only in Suicide Squad as we all know but also in Batman V Superman!

That's exactly how Warner Bros. intended it to be with all the hints and Easter eggs that they dropped, which they also knew would be nitpicked and theorized by today's blogosphere.
It has reached a point wherein there are already betting odds on which rumors will hold true. One rumor seems to have reached "inevitable" level, and that is the possible appearance of the Joker.

Cinema Blend has enumerated the hints on the trailer in this post and they reach a conclusion that all those Easter eggs-the damaged Robin costume and the vandalized headline, among others, lead to a clear conclusion.

"But with all of these hints dropped into this second trailer, I think it's extremely likely that we will see Jared Leto's Joker before he appears in Suicide Squad later next year."

What Culture also crashes the Joker party with a full-on prediction on how the appearance will take place.

"The rumored scene, which was reportedly added into the movie at the last minute, is supposed to depict the Joker kicking Batman's sidekick, Robin (or Jason Todd), to death," WC surmised. "And given that the trailer has already confirmed the appearance of a damaged Robin suit and the existence of at least one flashback (we see a young Bruce Wayne and his parents at one point in the latest trailer), there's certainly room for a debate on its inclusion."

The article also stated that the main argument against this rumor is that the film might already be "overstuffed." There are already a number of heroes to be introduced in the film to add the Joker to the head count.

The thing is, that is actually the intent of the movie. It has already been confirmed that BvS is more "Justice League" introduction and DC Extended Universe building block than "Man of Steel" sequel. It was meant to be that way, and the Joker plays an integral part of what makes the Ben Affleck Batman "scarred.

We all know that the battle which the title of the movie itself describes will be one of epic superhero proportions and based on the fight scenes ( like those between the Man of Steel and Zod in the 2013 masterpiece ) means that we're gonna be in for an unforgettable thrill ride!

So what would a billionaire like Bruce Wayne need in order to tackle an alien with god-like powers who may be unstoppable? Clearly Batman would need to pull out all the stops! We have seen the trailers and we know Batman is wearing what looks to be a suit only meant to take on our favorite Kryptonian with the aim to beat him in a scene consisting of unforgettable explosive action.

Here are images from the New York Comic Con where the suit was posed in full view for everyone to look at. Very impressive indeed!

In a new portrait, photographer Clay Enos captured Ben Affleck's Batman and Batmobile from the upcoming "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" film.

According to his website, Enos has frequently worked with director Zack Snyder, starting when he was hired to document Snyder's film adaptation of "Watchmen" for Warner Brothers. He has since done the same with Snyder's other blockbusters, up to and including "Sucker Punch," "Man of Steel" and "300: Rise of an Empire." This latest portrait shows Enos has worked on "Batman v Superman" as well.

In September, actor Ezra Miller - who will play The Flash/ Barry Allen in the DC Cinematic Universe (rumoured to give a cameo in Batman v Superman/ Suicide Squad) teased some details about his version of The Flash describing the costume as "post apocalypctic." This led to fans speculating that the speeding superhero's suit might be similar to what the character has in the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game. The latest report from Den of Geek seems to further solidify that possibility.

According to the website, the movie costume will be "tech-based" in an effort to avoid "any comparison to the well designed and received TV version". The website's sources reckon the designers are taking inspiration directly from the Gods Among Us game to come up with an outfit that will "look more like armor".

Also, latest rumours suggest that Miller's Barry Allen will be something of a "tech-geek" in addition to his forensic scientist day job - so he may not even seek outside help to design his suit as he does on the CW series. The Flash movie is currently slated to release on 23 March 2018.

Unlike with Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill's Man of Steel character has already shown us what his costume would look like all thanks to Man of Steel (2013) and we have a preconceived idea of what to expect from the Kryptonian in the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

It seems not much has changed form the Man of Steel movie in terms of Superman's outfit as he is still outfitted with the red cape and blue on piece suit. Here's the concept art for Batman V Superman:

Without a doubt one of the biggest and most important aspects of any superhero is their outfit and superhero gear and whilst they appear wonderful in comics, the translation to cinema needs to appeal to a whole different audience and be as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Obviously with a movie as big as Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), we as fans really want to see what evolutions have occurred to bring us our heroes as up to date as possible and thus costume designers need to produce costumes that will have wide-ranging appeal not just to fans but to all cinemagoers who may not even know much about these characters.

Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman needs to sparkle a little more than her male counterparts and this partly due to the fact that unlike Batman or Superman where we have a solid idea of what their outfits basically look like, but because not only is this the introduction of her character but it needs to be powerful enough to sustain the character and provide4 it with success so that Wonder Woman can stand firm in her own solo movie and draw fans from Batman V Superman to watch her movie also.

Here are concept art showing us a little more details regarding the character's costume and the look for the upcoming 2016 blockbuster:

If you want to be a super hero, you have to look the part. Fortunately, when it comes to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, our three heroes are in good hands! In this exclusive DC All Access clip, Batman v Superman costume designer Michael Wilkinson shares insights and secrets about Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman's distinctive new costumes.

Thursday, 1 October 2015

Actress Caity Lotz, who portrays the resurrected Sara Lance (former Black Canary), posted a new video of herself rolling around the set of Legends of Tomorrow on an Airboard. She shows off her agility on the self-balancing electronic scooter while wearing her White Canary costume.

"I feel like this is how White Canary should get around," wrote Lotz. She then thanked Airwheel and stuntman Travis Wong for the Airboard.

Watch Lotz glide around the set in the video below.

Legends Of Tomorrow - When heroes alone are not enough… the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat — one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?

Everything you need to know about DC's Legends of Tomorrow TV series, including news, casting, and the trailer!

DC's Legends of Tomorrow is the superhero team-up show spinning off of the wildly successful The Flash and Arrow. This time, though, we're going to have a reality warping, time traveling twist to things.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow Story

Here's the official synopsis of DC's Legends of Tomorrow:

"When heroes alone are not enough ... the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat — one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?"

Executive producer Greg Berlanti is likening the tone of the show to some important cinematic touchstones. "I compare the shows to old Westerns; we have a lot of lone gunmen and sheriffs in town, and this one is very much an ode to things like The Magnificent Seven or those great heist pics like Ocean’s Eleven where you get all of those colors at the same time, and a true ensemble, and that was the fun of it...you want that Rat Pack-y kind of vibe of all this crew hanging out, as disparate and as different as they are.”

DC's Legends of Tomorrow Cast

The core cast is Brandon Routh (as the Atom) who will lead a new superhero team which will also include Caity Lotz (White Canary), Wentworth Miller (Captain Cold), Dominic Purcell (Heat Wave), Ciara Renee (Hawkgirl), Falk Hentschel (Hawkman), Victor Garber, and Franz Drameh (Firestorm). Doctor Who alum Arthur Darville will play the time traveling Rip Hunter.

White Canary is a character we don't know all that much about, which leaves the show plenty of room to make some changes as necessary. Caity Lotz commented a little bit on these:

"We want to make it different, there's going to be changes. She's still Sara Lance but there has to be repercussions for everything that she's been through, so I'm hoping we really get to play with that stuff...I would think that it's going to have a toll. Just like Thea went into the Lazarus Pit and we saw how it affected her, and Sara was dead for a long time so I feel like there's going to be a big shift."

That sounds about right.

Ciara Renee (Broadway productions of Big Fish and the current Pippin revival) will play Kendra "Hawkgirl" Saunders, whose official casting description reads...

"This twenty-something Latina is pretty but unassuming, book smart and socially awkward by day. But by night, when she hears the cry of battle, her fury is ignited and she becomes a fierce warrior — so much so, that sometimes she can become a threat to others."

Deadline elaborates on this:

"Saunders is a young woman who is just beginning to learn that she has been repeatedly reincarnated over the centuries. When provoked, her ancient warrior persona manifests itself, along with wings that grow out of her back, earning her the moniker Hawkgirl."

And where goes Hawkgirl, there must also be Hawkman! Falk Hentschel will play the reincarnated superhero.

As for Rip Hunter, we first became aware of his existence thanks to this little casting description:

“THE TRAVELLER” | A Han Solo-esque rogue who gets by with his charm, this hero hails from the future, and has journeyed back in time on a secret mission. His razor-sharp wit hides the pain of a man who has lived through serious conflict. He also harbours many secrets, always leaving both his teammates and the audience unsure of his true allegiances.

The Wrap offers some more details, though, calling Hunter "a roguish time traveler who hides the strains of being responsible for history itself behind a facade of charm and wit."

Franz Drameh (Attack the Block) will play Jay Jackson, who will form the second half of Firestorm with Victor Garber's Martin Stein.

And yes, Jay Jackson is the character's real name. Anyway, here's the official word on him:

"Jay Jackson, a former high school athlete, whose pro-career was derailed by injury. Now making ends meets as an auto mechanic, Jay will come to have a surprising affiliation to the S.T.A.R. Labs crew."

Early casting breakdowns offered some additional info:

“MYSTERY HERO” | An African-American male in his twenties will fill the role of a regular, street smart guy who unexpectedly gains powers, and then, as part of the team, regularly quips about the insanity of the situations."

Vandal Savage is the big Legends of Tomorrow villain, and he'll be played by Casper Crump, who we'll also see in Warner Bros. 2016 live-action Tarzan movie. Like all the new Legends of Tomorrow characters, Savage will first be introduced during this year's fall Flash/Arrow crossover episodes, which will then set up the midseason arrival of the new series.

We have what sounds like an official casting description courtesy of THR, as well:

Vandal Savage is immortal, and has spent 6,000 years moving like a virus throughout history — influencing dictators and despots — all to set himself up for world domination.

A new (as in, not from the comics) character is Dr. Aldus Boardman, who will be played by Paul Francis James.

ComicBook.com broke the news, and they have the official casting description:

Boardman is "a Classics professor at St. Roch University, who has devoted his life to researching the story of Chayara (Hawkgirl) and Prince Khufu (Hawkman) and their link to Vandal Savage. Professor Boardman is our team’s only hope of finding Vandal and destroying him, so they can return home. But when the Legends learn a secret about Boardman, they insist on making him a part of their journey, only to learn the kind of sacrifice it will take to save the world."

Mr. Robot's Stephanie Corneliussen has joined the cast as Valentina Vostok, better known to DC Comics fans as the Doom Patrol's Negative Woman.

TV Line has what not only sounds like an official casting description, but a potential episode synopsis, as well.

Valentina is described as a gifted and beautiful Soviet physicist who will stop at nothing to defend her precious “Motherland.” When the Legends encounter her at the height of the Cold War, they suspect her of working with Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) on a secret weapon. Ray/The Atom (Brandon Routh) and Leonard/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) must vie for Valentina’s affection in an attempt to thaw her cold heart, and find out where her allegiance truly lies -— before she completes her project and potentially turns the tide of the Cold War.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow Premiere Date

CW President Mark Pedowitz confirmed that Legends of Tomorrow will have a 13 episode order (although we're now hearing it will be 16 episodes) and it will kick off at midseason.

Ah yes, another tell tale sign of the amount of violence, destruction, language or even sex can be told by whatever rating a movie is given before it's release and no exception for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice as the MPAA have finally given its rating stamp. Lets face it, we all knew we weren't going to get a R-Rated movie didn't we, though admittedly that would've been brilliant.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, the superhero showdown earned its rating with “intense sequences of violence and action throughout, and some sensuality.”

By releasing Dawn of Justice with a PG-13 rating rather than the more restrictive R, studio Warner Bros. is adhering to the same playbook as most modern superhero movies (including the Dark Knight trilogy and the Marvel cinematic universe) and contemporary blockbusters in general (The Hunger Games, Fast & Furious, Jurassic World).